Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Panels and Mud...Almost Done!

So, I've been patiently waiting for my awesome hubby to start remodeling our house....the poor thing is run ragged! Why do I need the pro-remodeler? I'm sure I can figure this out...with Amber's help (Jim says she's officially the Ethel to my Lucy!)

Jamie's room is paneled. Not with the nice bead board or knotty pine...plywood...UGLY plywood! When we bought the house, I hated the paneling, but the woodwork...oh..the woodwork! Makes up for all the terrible flawed things the previous owners did to the poor thing (we have an entire wall of CORK in our master bedroom! I've been trying to scrape it off bit by bit, the geniuses glued it to the wall!) At first my thoughts were to tear down the paneling and see what we had underneath, but Jim was adamant about people put paneling up for a reason!!!! (sure enough, while I was mudding I needed to pound in a few nails to make it tight....I could hear crumbly bits falling down behind the wall!!!!)


My only option in our budget seemed to be to fake new drywall. I used some leftover mud Jim had from a recent job and filled in the cracks of the paneling. Ended up using 2 coats and then sanded the whole thing down.

After I was finished with the first coat and half way through the second, Jim asked if I was using the small trowel or the big one....duh..the small one, it was a small crack! Well, it turns out that you put the mud on with the little one and then smooth the whole thing out with the big one.....sooooo much easier! (better late then never!) There were a couple of spots where the house had shifted, causing a big gap in between the panels. I fudged my way through and so far it seems to have blended pretty well!
Here's that finished wall, pre-sanding. (see that big area along the bookshelf....HUGE gap...mudded the heck out of it!)

Today I primed the entire room. There's a few spots that Jim needs to smooth (the spots that he sanded hahaha!). Then it's on to painting and decorating! Jamie wants a fighter jet room with blue walls and his white desk painted navy blue...we'll see what we come up with!


Have a productive week! (I'm off to book a massage....painting around those stinkin' trim pieces about killed me!)

1 comment:

Kristi said...

Bless your heart! Our first home had similar paneling. We were not as courageous as you. We used Kilz to prime over the paneling and then painted over that. I think you have tackled the hardest part. Cork? Oh my goodness!